Something From Nothing
by Touch of Grey
Summary: Just a team-up between some of the Teen Titans and the JSA's younger members. Al/Courtney, hinted


It seemed like the crime of the century.

Weeks ago, a man had appeared on the streets of New York City claiming he could grant any wish…for a small fee. The man, Earl Harpton, had become an overnight sensation, as it appeared that his powers were, in fact, real.

This didn't settle well with Jakeem's Thunderbolt.

"Only genies can grant wishes!" he'd grumbled time and again. "Humans can bend chance in their favor, but it is physically impossible for even the most practiced of magician to pull something from nothing."

That statement had caught Jay's attention. "What do you mean, Thunderbolt?" The purple genie sighed.

"Humans have to exist well within a certain frame of, well, existence, or pretty much everything they are is negated. It's all about equivalent exchange. This guy Earl is obviously pulling whatever he's giving people from somewhere, or more likely _someone_ else." Ted nodded.

"So if someone wishes a loved one back to life-"

"Earl pulls the life force from some random person and transfers it into the person being revived. So not only is he a fraud, he's a murderer." Alan rubbed his temples. "Okay, who's available to go get this guy?" Jay began ticking off names.

"Lightning, Citizen Steel, and King Chimera are responding to disaster relief from that huge fire in Upstate, Tommy and Mr. America are helping rebuild parts of Manhattan from that UltraHumanite thing last week, Jesse and Rick are in Brooklyn, tracking down some creep that claims to be selling Miraclo, Judomaster and Damage are off the grid on an undercover mission, and PG is expecting the three of us down in Chile, the four of us are representing the JSA's disaster relief team." He sighed. "The only free JSA members are Courtney, Al, Jakeem, and Maxine."

"What do you mean only? That's some heavy firepower we've got! Al alone could take out an entire block of Earl Harptons!" Cyclone flushed when she realized that the three most senior members were staring directly at her. "Um, probably?" Jay rolled his eyes and smiled warily.

"I'm sure he could, Maxine. But just to be safe, I'm going to see if any other teams would mind lending us a couple of people."

Five minutes on the horn, and they had their team.

"I've never worked with anyone in the Teen Titans before. Are the guys they're sending us nice?" Courtney shrugged, propping her boot up on her desk to properly tie it.

"I've never met Bombshell, but I'm pretty sure she's a girl, and Bart is nice enough if you can get him to slow down and shut up." She pulled her hair out of the back of her mask. "You'd like him."

"Get the stick! Cyclone, _get the stick_!" Maxine's eyes widened.

"Wha-?"

"_All his power comes from the stick_! Grab it and break it in half!"

The surrounding area was a madhouse. Earl Harpton was, as they'd expected, a fraud, but he wasn't a defenseless fraud. His power, they'd found out soon after confronting him, was good for things other than simple wish-granting. As it was, Stargirl had been turned into a little girl, and Atom Smasher had had his powers shut off. Jakeem and the Thunderbolt were confronting the bad guy, while Kid Flash, Bombshell, and Cyclone had been left to come up with a contingency plan. The Thunderbolt could only hold back Earl's powers for so long. That's when Bart had noticed just what powered the madman in the first place.

"The way I figure it, we'll have to play keep-away with him for a little while. Who knows how much of the stick's power he's absorbed. So Bombshell, you sucker punch Earl and grab the stick, then toss it to Cyclone. Cyclone, you'll whirlwind the stick over to me, and I'll run it back over to Earl and break it over his head. That should both reabsorb whatever power may have leaked out, and hopefully break the spells on Star and Al. We ready? Bombshell?" The silver girl put down her hand.

"Why can't I just break it over his head while I'm punching him?" Bart sighed.

"Because I want to take a look at the stick before it's broken. The couple of seconds I'll have it will be enough time to see if I recognize it from any of the books Zatanna leant me last time I saw her. If it turns out that breaking the stick would do more harm than good, then I won't break it and you can beat on Earl some more." That seemed to placate Bombshell, and the trio moved out.

The plan went off without a hitch.

The stick _was_ in fact Earl's magical conduit and once Bart broke it, all of his spells and wishes were reversed. The twisted sorcerer-wannabe was going to jail, and the day was saved. Except…

"Why'd you hesitate?"

Bart's head snapped up, and he stared at Al. "What?"

"Right before you cracked the thing in half, you paused. Why?" The speedster looked down, cheeks slightly flushed. "C'mon, kid. Fess up. You wanted to wish for something. What was it?"

"It's stupid."

"Maybe, but it's probably no dumber than what I would have wished for, if I was in your place." Bart stared at the ground, then mumbled something. "Say that again?"

"I'd have wished for a date with Cyclone." He said louder, looking Al in the face. The giant man rolled his eyes beneath his mask.

"You don't need a magical wishing stick for that, kid. Just go talk to her. You two would look good together." Before he ran off, Bart tilted his head.

"What would you have wished for?" Al sighed.

"I'd have wished for Alan, Jay, and Ted to quit being so protective of Courtney. The girl is old enough to make her own decisions, even if they wouldn't like some of the decisions she'd make." Bart nodded, then looked to where Courtney and Maxine were admiring the way the sunlight glinted off Amy's skin. "Go get her, kid."

"For what its worth, you and Courtney are gonna be great together, I remember."

Al's eyes widened, and he broke into a wide grin.

"Time travelers, you gotta love 'em…"

Fini

It's my personal belief that Cyclone and Kid Flash would make an awesome couple, if only for the GIANT WALLS OF TEXT that would occur every time they got together. This was written somewhere between midnight and 4 am, and is set in that twilight zone of comic continuity, before the JSA broke up into two teams, but after Bart rejoined the Teen Titans. I know it exists. Bart was hanging with the Titans in Flash: Rebirth #1, and that happened ages before the JSA split up. Humor me.

And more importantly, review!


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